So What’s This All Mean? Pt. 1

Here’s just the first of what I’m sure will be many articles about how the draft has reshaped the Cavaliers’ roster.

First off, I don’t mean to neglect the Cavs’ selection of 6’6″ guard Carrick Felix out of Arizona State University with the 33rd pick. As you might have guessed, I was pulling for Jamaal Franklin at 33 (and at 31!), so I was a little thrown by this unfamiliar name. You can read all about Felix here. I know I will be.

That being said, the video montage ESPN played following the selection leads me to say this: good size, an athletic player with some explosiveness, good catch-and-shoot guy (37.4% from three). I’ll take that with the 33rd pick (even if I’d rather have Jamaal Franklin). I was convinced Chris Grant would draft someone he could stash overseas. With Felix, he might have drafted a guy he can stash in Canton, at least for next season.

Okay, on to Anthony Bennett. We all probably had something verging on Bill Simmons’ reaction, but within ten seconds it was pretty easy to talk yourself into the pick. Bennett was one of the two most talented players in this draft. It was him and Ben McLemore. They both had the most talent, the highest upside… however you want to phrase it. In that respect, it doesn’t matter that the Cavs already have Tristan Thompson — just as it wouldn’t have mattered that they already had Dion Waiter had the Cavs picked McLemore or Victor Oladipo. They now have the guy they feel was the most talented of the bunch of available guys this year.

The “glass half empty” view is that Bennett and Thompson are redundant, both undersized power forwards, so Chris Grant must have wasted one pick to get another right. There is that…

The “glass half full” view, though, is that all we’re dealing with is a similar redundancy to what we got when Grant drafted Dion Waiters, a creative, ball-handling scoring guard to pair with … well, you know, another creative, ball-handling scoring guard in Kyrie Irving. That happened and we saw the benefits of it. “Redundancy” became “flexibility” with Waiters able to handle the ball (more than) capably while Kyrie sat as well as score it while the two ran side-by-side.

That’s where Bennett’s listing of Carmelo Anthony as his favorite player during interviews yesterday was interesting to me. Anthony “found himself” in many way this past season playing the four for stretches, but has long made his home at the three. Likewise, Larry Johnson, the player who Bennett said his college coaches most compared his game with, was a burly, undersized, athletic, player who played both the three and the four during his career.

I think the Cavs embrace Bennett as a hybrid forward, while insisting that he be in good enough shape to be effective against threes on the defensive end. Bennett already brings more explosiveness and shot-making ability than any of the small forwards currently on the Cavs roster at the beginning of the night. Should he be able to play half of his minutes alongside Thompson, a front court of Bennett, a continually improving Thompson and the usually pin-balling Varejao is something to consider. It’s got size, strength, athleticism and the ability to generate baskets in a lot of different ways.

But Bennett can also slide down to the four spot and run in line-ups with the likes of Dion Waiters, Sergey Karasev, Alonzo Gee and Tyler Zeller. I don’t mind that group a bit either.

When you look at the Cavs you see a team of fluid positions. Waiters can play the two or he can handle the ball. Karasev can play the two or the three. Bennett (we’re being told) can play the three or the four. And then all of our other post players — Varejao, Thompson and Zeller — can play either the four or five, depending on the situation.

This makes for a more potent, surprising offense than if the Cavs had gone with either of the centers, Alex Len or Nerlens Noel.

So, no, I don’t think the Cavs have soured on Thompson just because they drafted Bennett. What it does make more clear, however, is that no one is especially safe until (or even after) this team starts winning. When the draft rolls around, Grant will take who he feels is best.

Too much of the best, after all, can only be good going forward.

17 Responses to “So What’s This All Mean? Pt. 1”

This might sound blasphemous but I think the Cavs are basically adopting the evolution that teams like Miami especially and Boston (before tonight) have espoused by picking up players that can play multiple roles.

Somewhat position-less basketball with an emphasis on the “best players on the floor” while creating mismatches on both ends of the floor.

That doesn’t mean we’ll see a lineup with TT and Bennett at the 4 and 5, but by the same token, there is something to be said for just playing your best players and not worrying about positions as much.

Miami (Wade playing 1-2, LeBron playing 1-5, Bosh playing 4-5), Boston (KG playing 4-5), New York (Carmelo playing 3-4), OKC (Durant playing 3-4), etc.

To me, this is just the Cavs hopping on board the express by taking a unique talent that can play multiple positions and thus create different scenarios (at the 3 alongside TT, or at the 4 with TT on the bench) that other teams have started to do for the past 2 years…

One little problem…creative rotations aren’t a Mike Brown strength. Spoelstra and Fizdale spent considerable time cooking up their philosophy, including spending time with former Oregon football coach Chip Kelley.

I can’t see Mike Brown devising creative lineups that attack specific matchups, or suddenly becoming a good rotation manager.

Is no one else upset that the Cavs passed on both Jamaal Franklin and Tony Mitchell in the 2nd round? They skipped two missed two first round talents for some guy few have heard of. But I guess if that’s the most disappointing part of the draft then the Cavs did well. Keep on keeping on, CG.

That’s a fair point. With Bennett, you just hope Brown realizes what he has in that he’s a tweener if any of us ever saw one. It’s worth getting him easier looks at 4 at times instead of just playing him at 3 the entire time.

I guess the Cavs thought Bennett was better than anyone lower than #6 next year (and would help them sooner). The Philly deal was there and a 2014 protected-5 was the bait. Even bringing over Holiday could have created some interesting rotations. And it’s not like Kyrie is made of iron. He’ll sit 15-20 every year.

I liked the Russian stash. The kid seems like a winner and says all the right things. He’s even cool with staying over there or coming immediately.

The Crabbe trade makes little sense to me. I actually thought he might have a chance to be a better option than the back end of the Cavs bench. Now they have 2 more mid-round 2nd rounders in the pot. I think that’s 4-5 2014 2nd round picks now.

Agree that Felix will just live in D-League and surface one day if he shows promise or there is an injury. Which makes you think, why even draft these kinds of guys? I get the overseas stash mentality but not drafting guys that probably can be invited to summer camp for nothing.

Are the Cavs owning up to the fact that Varejao will never be a 35 min per game/75 game player again? Keeping Andy healthy means limiting his playing time; that leaves a lot of minutes to fill in the front court. Tristan can play the 5 for stretches and Bennett can play the 3 for stretches. Both will get starter’s minutes if that is the goal.

I don’t mind the Cavs first round choices at all. Like some of the others here, I was actually most disappointed by their second round selections. I really wanted them to take Franklin. I actually really liked the choice of Crabbe and then we traded him and kept Felix. 2nd Round let down for me.

I just see a bunch of “overvalued assets” (to quote Scott Raab) and not a team capable of playing winning ball. Most of the commenters here seem to think that Brown will able to get these guys to play defense and that Grant has more moves to make. I’m not, frankly, convinced that either of those are likely to produce a playoff team – certainly not in the coming season and probably not in the following one either. Kyrie and The Island of Misfit Toys.

I still don’t think that Tyler Zeller has gotten a fair shake yet but if we are being honest he was tasked with a monumental task as a rookie 17 overall pick Center with starting 55 games in a system in which I thought we all agreed didn’t seem best designed to win games, on a very young inexperienced team where the roster only had like 4 of the same players on it for more than 1 years in a row. It’s not like seeing a rookie come up and start a few games in place of say Manu Ginobili, that system has a bunch of players that have been in it for years. It’s a lot easier to plug a guy in than to be like alright Tyler, go out there and guard Dwight Howard, we’ll see how it goes.

It’s hard to argue with what they did in the first round. Bennett really didn’t have many knocks against him. An inch or two undersized. But that’s about it. The weight and the injury really shouldn’t be a concern. As far as how he fits with the Cavs roster, we’ll have to see. CG said in two conferences last night that Bennett is primarily a PF. So how much time he and TT are on the court together is up in the air.

They filled a need with Karasev at 19 (although I would have preferred Bullock, due to his athleticism). Can’t really complain. Unless he doesn’t come over for next season, then you can complain a little.

I also don’t like how they handled the second round. I don’t know what the point of getting 2 future second round picks was. I would preferred that they kept Crabbe. Franklin, Mitchell, Ledo would have been good picks. Heck, I could even have supported drafting Jeff Withey. Just because they didn’t get a C in the first round.

Still, to quote LJ 2.0, if that’s our biggest complaint, then the Cavs did fine.

Getting back to the C issue. Andy and Tyler are now the starter and backup. Does this make anyone else a little nervous? I’m more concerned that Andy is playing out of position than I am his injuries. Let’s not forget that before Andy got hurt, the Cavs were 5-21, and ranked 30th in terms of opponents FG %…and that’s when Andy was playing at an all-star level. What are the FA options? Pekovic, Jefferson, Bynum (gasp)…anyone else?

Both Minnesota and Philly acquired centers last night (Dieng and Noel). Does this mean both are resigned to letting Pekovic and Bynum go? If memory serves, the Cavs could sign a FA around 10-11 mil and still have room for a max contract after next season. If the goal is the playoffs for next season, do they want to roll the dice with what they have?

It’s possible that Thompson’s growth plates weren’t closed when he was drafted. These guy grow past the normal range.

I’m okay with Bennett considering the circumstances. They must have been more scared of Noel and Len’s injuries than the blogosphere knew about. So were other teams. Still surprised they didn’t add a center i a draft that was so deep at the position. Centers develop much slower than any other position. One of the centers who was drafted after the lottery will be a solid NBA center.

Just because a big fish trade wasn’t on the table last night doesn’t mean that one won’t be later. The 76ers and Celtics blew it up. Atlanta could be next. The peaking order in the East is changing.

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Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

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